Since 30 September, the Fund has made $24.1m in new commitments in Central African Republic, Guinea, Comoros, Madagascar and to a Tajik – Kyrgyz cross border Project. In CAR, Under-Secretary-General Ladsous announced $1m in PBF support for the elections to help build momentum towards an inclusive and peaceful electoral process. The PBF Immediate Response Facility (IRF) has been also used to allocate $3m to support the restoration of state authority and socio-economic revitalisation of communities in the north, center and east of CAR, closely coordinated with other actors’ efforts to provide support outside of Bangui. Thirdly, another $3.5m IRF allocation to CAR aims to support community violence reduction, in particular aimed at communities with populations not eligible for formal DDR. Elsewhere, PBF allocated small but important funding in electoral contexts to increase women and civil society engagement, including in conflict prevention efforts, and to increase security ($0.8m in Guinea and $0.4m in Comoros). In Guinea as well, PBF has funded a second phase of a reconciliation project, being led by Christian and Muslim leaders, which will undertake country-wide consultations in the coming months ($0.8m). In Madagascar, PBSO has allocated $11.5m towards a three year Peacebuilding Priority Plan developed by the national Joint Steering Committee focusing on security sector reform, good governance and a holistic package of support to the south of the country, which has been particularly affected by insecurity, marginalization and other peacebuilding challenges. The Priority Plan development benefitted from a number of inclusive preparatory workshops, including a pre-workshop dedicated to the involvement of civil society. Lastly, within the portfolio in Kyrgyzstan, in early December PBF approved its first ever cross border project, a cooperation and trust building initiative along the tension-filled Kyrgyz/Tajik border.

Looking forward to 2016, a number of activities are under development. These include support to the peace agreement in South Sudan, additional support to expand UN stabilisation work in Somalia beyond Mogadishu, significant work supporting peacebuilding in Sri Lanka in support of the Government’s ambitious plans, possible support to the implementation of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in Myanmar, support for security sector reform in Burkina Faso, possible accompaniment during the UN Mission draw down phase in Haiti, possible financing of some activities related to the Colombian peace process, assistance to Sierra Leone during the next phase of PBC accompaniment, and the launching of a new Gender Promotion Initiative (see below). Other possible ideas include support for dialogue in Libya, conflict prevention work in northern Cameroon and potential renewal of grants in currently supported countries that face continued peacebuilding challenges. Sufficient funding will be required, however, to meet this ambitious pipeline.

For more information on PBF’s recent activities and including a summary of our funding status can be found HERE.